THEATER REVIEW: Playhouse musical captures the look but not the heart of 'Little Miss Sunshine'

PAM KRAGEN - pkragen@nctimes.com

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In the opening minutes of James Lapine and William Finn's new
musical "Little Miss Sunshine," aspiring self-help guru Richard
Hoover lays out his "10 Steps for Success," of which No. 5 is: "No
More Sugarcoating."

So in keeping with Hoover's mantra, it must be plainly said that
"Little Miss Sunshine ---- now in its world premiere at La Jolla
Playhouse ---- isn't nearly as heartfelt or charming as the 2006
film that inspired it.

Although the production has a game cast (particularly10-year-old Georgi James as "Little Miss Sunshine" pageantcontestant Olive Hoover and Tony-winner Dick Latessa as herporn-loving Grandpa), as well as superb scenic design and Lapine'ssnappy direction, the show suffers from a drab score, an overlongbook and the nagging question of whether this family road trip talehas been improved at all by musicalization (The answer? No ---- orat least not yet).

Closely adapted by Lapine from Michael Arndt's Oscar-winning
screenplay, "Little Miss Sunshine" is the story of the Hoovers, a
dysfunctional, down-on-their-luck Albuquerque family, who band
together in a rattletrap VW bus for a tri-state journey to a child
beauty pageant in California.

The musical gets off to a slow and unremarkable start when
Richard Hoover sings his 10-step formula to the audience with the
awkward help of an ensemble (who are better apart in solo roles
than as a unit). Next, the family is introduced with "Same Old,
Same Old," an unmelodic, monotonous recitative-style number that
seems to drag on and on.

It isn't until Latessa makes his entrance as the salty-tongued,
sex-starved Grandpa that the show finally kicks into gear. Musicals
should start with a bang, not a whimper. Why not open instead with
a scene of Olive and Grandpa (her pageant coach) rehearsing
together (since James and Latessa share the best chemistry and
audience appeal)?

Lapine's script hews fairly close to the screenplay with some
inspired additions (particularly Uncle Frank's encounter with his
ex-lover at a desert rest stop, and the quirky co-hosts of the
beauty pageant). Yet while the musical re-creates the look, scenes
and characters of the movie, it fails to recapture its soul.

The Hoovers are a misfit collection of unhappy losers who each
transform in some way during their journey, and the audience grows
to love them along the way. There are a few sparkles in the musical
adaptation, but not enough to allow the audience to care about
these deeply troubled souls.

Finn's score is especially challenging, with few memorable
numbers or sweeping melodies. Latessa's provocative solo "Grandpa's
Advice," Miss California's bulimia confessional "Too Much
Information" and "Olive's Moment" (a "badonk-adonk"-filled
free-for-all pageant song performed by James) are the score's
keepers. But virtually all of the ensemble numbers are forgettable,
and "I Cannot Breathe," an intentionally dissonant wail by the
Hoovers' miserable teen son Dwayne, is ear-splitting.

David Korins' scenic design really wows once the Hoovers hit the
road. A constantly shifting skyline of colorful desert landscapes,
drifting clouds and passing road signs (as well as a family of
illegal aliens chased by sirens in Arizona) brilliantly solves the
dilemma of staging a story set mostly in a van. And a fleet of
yellow VW vans moves the story west (including a tiny
remote-controlled vehicle to a full-sized, foot-propelled cutaway
mockup with seats that rise and fall on hydraulics so the actors'
faces are always visible from any angle). Christopher Gattelli's
musical staging keeps the story moving swiftly, including some
fancy footwork that creates a real sense of motion when the family
must repeatedly jump-start their ailing van.

The show's cast is mostly good, though Hunter Foster feels
miscast as family patriarch Richard Hoover. He seems too young, too
aloof and doesn't have the insensitivity, sadness or desperation
that made Greg Kinnear's transformational performance as Richard so
memorable on film. Plus, there's no chemistry between Foster and
Jennifer Laura Thompson, the actress who plays his long-suffering
bank teller wife, Sheryl.

By contrast, Thompson is believable as the exasperated,
endlessly maternal Sheryl --- though Finn's songs for her aren't in
the prettiest part of her vocal register.

Uncle Frank, the gay, suicidal Proust scholar reeling from botha breakup and firing, is perfectly underplayed by Malcolm Gets. AndTaylor Trensch does a good slow burn in the nearly wordless role ofseething teen Dwayne Hoover.

The Hoover family encounters many obstacles on their 600-mile
trip to California, and the "Little Miss Sunshine" musical is in
just the first lap of its journey to Broadway, so some potholes
should be expected. Whether this vehicle can survive the journey to
New York depends on how much tinkering Lapine and Finn are willing
to do under the hood.